System and method for providing a user-adjustable display of clusters and text

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing a user-adjustable display of clusters and text is provided. A two-dimensional display of cluster spines is provided. The cluster spines each include clusters of documents proximately aligned. A compass is provided within the display and positioned over one or more clusters of at least one cluster spine based on instructions from a user. The display of the clusters positioned within the compass is altered. Spine labels are positioned circumferentially around the compass. Each spine label represents a concept associated with one of the cluster spines positioned within the compass.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,019,issued Nov. 8, 2011; which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 7,356,777,issued Apr. 8, 2008, the priority dates of which are claimed and thedisclosures of which are incorporated by reference.

FIELD

The invention relates in general to user interfaces and, in particular,to a system and method for providing a dynamic user interface includinga plurality of logical layers.

BACKGROUND

Text mining can be used to extract latent semantic content fromcollections of structured and unstructured text. Data visualization canthen be used to model the extracted semantic content, which transformsnumeric or textual data into graphical data to assist users inunderstanding underlying principles. For example, clusters group relatedsets of concepts into a single graphical element that can be mapped intothe graphical screen. When mapped into multi-dimensional space, thespatial orientation of the clusters can reflect similarities andrelatedness of clusters. However, artificially mapping the clusters intoa three-dimensional scene or a two-dimensional screen can presentpotential problems. For instance, a viewer could misinterpret dependentrelationships between discrete clusters displayed adjacently orerroneously interpret dependent variables as independent and independentvariables as dependent. Similarly, a screen of densely-packed clusterscan be difficult to understand and navigate, particularly where textuallabels are annotated to overlie the cluster directly. Other factors canfurther complicate the perception of visualized data, such as describedin R. E. Horn, “Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21^(st)Century,” Ch. 3, MacroVU Press (1998), the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference.

Moreover, data visualization is constrained by the physical limits ofthe screen system used. Two-dimensional visualized data can be readilydisplayed, yet visualized data of greater dimensionality must beartificially projected into two-dimensions when displayed onconventional display devices. Careful use of color, shape and temporalattributes can simulate multiple dimensions, but comprehension andusability become difficult as additional layers of modeling areartificially grafted into a two-dimensional screen space and displaydensity increases. In addition, large sets of data, such as emailstores, document archives and databases, can be content rich and canyield large sets of clusters that result in a complex screen. Display,however, is limited and large cluster sets can appear crowded and dense,thereby hindering understandability. To aid navigation through thedisplay, the cluster sets can be combined, abstracted or manipulated tosimplify presentation, but semantic content can be lost or skewed.

Moreover, complex graphical data can be difficult to comprehend whendisplayed alone and without textual references to underlying content.The user is forced to remember “landmark” clusters and similar visualcues by screen position alone, which can be particularly difficult withlarge cluster sets. The visualized data can be annotated with text, suchas cluster labels, to aid comprehension and usability. However,annotating text directly into a graphical display can be cumbersome,particularly where the clusters are densely packed and cluster labelsoverlay or occlude the display. A more subtle problem occurs when thescreen is displaying a two-dimensional projection of three-dimensionaldata and the text is annotated within the two-dimensional space.Relabeling the text based on the two-dimensional representation canintroduce misinterpretations of the three-dimensional data when thedisplay is reoriented. Also, reorienting the display during dataevaluation can cause a shuffling of the displayed clusters and a loss ofuser orientation. Furthermore, navigation within such a display can beunintuitive and cumbersome, as cluster placement is driven by availabledisplay and the provisioning of labels necessarily overlays orintersects placed clusters.

Therefore, there is a need for an approach to providing a focuseddisplay of dense visualized three-dimensional data representingextracted semantic content as a combination of graphical and textualdata elements. Preferably, such an approach would provide a userinterface facilitating convenient navigation as a heads-up display (HUD)logically provided over the visualized data and would enable large- orfine-grained data navigation, searching and data exploration.

SUMMARY

An embodiment provides a system and method for providing a userinterface for a dense three-dimensional scene. Clusters are placed in athree-dimensional scene arranged proximal to each other such cluster toform a cluster spine. Each cluster includes one or more concepts. Eachcluster spine is projected into a two-dimensional display relative to astationary perspective. Controls operating on a view of the clusterspines in the display are presented. A compass logically framing thecluster spines within the display is provided. A label to identify onesuch concept in one or more of the cluster spines appearing within thecompass is generated. A plurality of slots in the two-dimensionaldisplay positioned circumferentially around the compass is defined. Eachlabel is assigned to the slot outside of the compass for the clusterspine having a closest angularity to the slot.

A further embodiment provides a system and method for providing auser-adjustable display of clusters and text. A two-dimensional displayof cluster spines is provided. The cluster spines each include clustersof documents proximately aligned. A compass is provided within thedisplay and positioned over one or more clusters of at least one clusterspine based on instructions from a user. The display of the clusterspositioned within the compass is altered. Spine labels are positionedcircumferentially around the compass. Each spine label represents aconcept associated with one of the cluster spines positioned within thecompass.

Still other embodiments of the invention will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following detailed description,wherein are embodiments of the invention by way of illustrating the bestmode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized,the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and itsseveral details are capable of modifications in various obviousrespects, all without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to beregarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system for providing a userinterface for a dense three-dimensional scene, in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the system modules implementing thedisplay generator of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing, by way of example, the projection ofn-dimensional space into three-dimensional space and two-dimensionalspace through the display generator of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a screen display diagram showing, by way of example, a userinterface generated by the display generator of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an exploded screen display diagram showing the user interfaceof FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6A-D are data representation diagrams showing, by way of examples,display zooming, panning and pinning using the user interface of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a data representation diagram showing, by way of example,multiple compasses generated using the user interface of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 8A-C are data representation diagrams showing, by way of example,single and multiple compasses generated using the user interface of FIG.4.

FIG. 9 is a data representation diagram showing, by way of example, acluster spine group.

FIG. 10 is a data representation diagram showing, by way of examples,cluster spine group placements.

FIG. 11 is a data representation diagram showing, by way of example,cluster spine group overlap removal.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing a method for providing a userinterface for a dense three-dimensional scene, in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the routine for providing a HUD foruse in the method of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the routine for assigning clusters toslots for use in the routine of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a data representation diagram showing, by way of example, acluster assignment to a slot within a slice object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Glossary

-   Concept: One or more preferably root stem normalized words defining    a specific meaning.-   Theme: One or more concepts defining a semantic meaning.-   Cluster: Grouping of documents containing one or more common themes.-   Spine: Grouping of clusters sharing a single concept preferably    arranged linearly along a vector. Also referred to as a cluster    spine.-   Spine Group Set of connected and semantically-related spines.-   Scene: Three-dimensional virtual world space generated from a    mapping of an n-dimensional problem space.-   Screen: Two-dimensional display space generated from a projection of    a scene limited to one single perspective at a time.    The foregoing terms are used throughout this document and, unless    indicated otherwise, are assigned the meanings presented above.    System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system 10 for providing a userinterface for a dense three-dimensional scene, in accordance with theinvention. By way of illustration, the system 10 operates in adistributed computing environment, which includes a plurality ofheterogeneous systems and document sources. A backend server 11 executesa workbench suite 31 for providing a user interface framework forautomated document management, processing and analysis. The backendserver 11 is coupled to a storage device 13, which stores documents 14,in the form of structured or unstructured data, and a database 30 formaintaining document information. A production server 12 includes adocument mapper 32, that includes a clustering engine 33 and displaygenerator 34. The clustering engine 33 performs efficient documentscoring and clustering, such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat.No. 7,610,313, issued Oct. 27, 2009, the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference. The display generator 34 arranges conceptclusters in a radial thematic neighborhood relationships projected ontoa two-dimensional visual display, such as described in commonly-assignedU.S. Pat. No. 7,191,175, issued Mar. 13, 2007, and U.S. Pat. No.7,440,622, issued Oct. 21, 2008, the disclosures of which areincorporated by reference. In addition, the display generator 34provides a user interface for cluster display and navigation, as furtherdescribed below beginning with reference to FIG. 2.

The document mapper 32 operates on documents retrieved from a pluralityof local sources. The local sources include documents 17 maintained in astorage device 16 coupled to a local server 15 and documents 20maintained in a storage device 19 coupled to a local client 18. Thelocal server 15 and local client 18 are interconnected to the productionsystem 11 over an intranetwork 21. In addition, the document mapper 32can identify and retrieve documents from remote sources over aninternetwork 22, including the Internet, through a gateway 23 interfacedto the intranetwork 21. The remote sources include documents 26maintained in a storage device 25 coupled to a remote server 24 anddocuments 29 maintained in a storage device 28 coupled to a remoteclient 27.

The individual documents 17, 20, 26, 29 include all forms and types ofstructured and unstructured data, including electronic message stores,such as word processing documents, electronic mail (email) folders, Webpages, and graphical or multimedia data. Notwithstanding, the documentscould be in the form of organized data, such as stored in a spreadsheetor database.

In one embodiment, the individual documents 17, 20, 26, 29 includeelectronic message folders, such as maintained by the Outlook andOutlook Express products, licensed by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond,Wash. The database is an SQL-based relational database, such as theOracle database management system, release 8, licensed by OracleCorporation, Redwood Shores, Calif.

The individual computer systems, including backend server 11, productionserver 32, server 15, client 18, remote server 24 and remote client 27,are general purpose, programmed digital computing devices consisting ofa central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM),non-volatile secondary storage, such as a hard drive or CD ROM drive,network interfaces, and peripheral devices, including user interfacingmeans, such as a keyboard and display. Program code, including softwareprograms, and data are loaded into the RAM for execution and processingby the CPU and results are generated for display, output, transmittal,or storage.

Display Generator

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the system modules implementing thedisplay generator of FIG. 1. The display generator 34 includesclustering 41, cluster spine placement 42, and HUD 43 components.

Individual documents 14 are analyzed by the clustering component 41 toform clusters 45 of semantically scored documents, such as described incommonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,610,313, issued Oct. 27, 2009, thedisclosure of which is incorporated by reference. In one embodiment,document concepts 46 are formed from concepts and terms extracted fromthe documents 14 and the frequencies of occurrences and reference countsof the concepts and terms are determined. Each concept and term is thenscored based on frequency, concept weight, structural weight, and corpusweight. The document concept scores are compressed and assigned tonormalized score vectors for each of the documents 14. The similaritiesbetween each of the normalized score vectors are determined, preferablyas cosine values. A set of candidate seed documents is evaluated toselect a set of seed documents 44 as initial cluster centers based onrelative similarity between the assigned normalized score vectors foreach of the candidate seed documents or using a dynamic threshold basedon an analysis of the similarities of the documents 14 from a center ofeach cluster 45, such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,610,313, issued Oct. 27, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference. The remaining non-seed documents are evaluated against thecluster centers also based on relative similarity and are grouped intothe clusters 45 based on best-fit, subject to a minimum fit criterion.

The clustering component 41 analyzes cluster similarities in amulti-dimensional problem space, while the cluster spine placementcomponent 42 maps the clusters into a three-dimensional virtual spacethat is then projected onto a two-dimensional screen space, as furtherdescribed below with reference to FIG. 3. The cluster spine placementcomponent 42 evaluates the document concepts 46 assigned to each of theclusters 45 and arranges concept clusters in thematic neighborhoodrelationships projected onto a shaped two-dimensional visual display,such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,175, issuedMar. 13, 2007, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,440,622, issued Oct. 21, 2008, thedisclosures of which are incorporated by reference.

During visualization, cluster “spines” and certain clusters 45 areplaced as cluster groups 49 within a virtual three-dimensional space asa “scene” or world that is then projected into two-dimensional space asa “screen” or visualization 54. Candidate spines are selected bysurveying the cluster concepts 47 for each cluster 45. Each clusterconcept 47 shared by two or more clusters 45 can potentially form aspine of clusters 45. However, those cluster concepts 47 referenced byjust a single cluster 45 or by more than 10% of the clusters 45 arediscarded. Other criteria for discarding cluster concepts 47 arepossible. The remaining clusters 45 are identified as candidate spineconcepts, which each logically form a candidate spine. Each of theclusters 45 are then assigned to a best fit spine 48 by evaluating thefit of each candidate spine concept to the cluster concept 47. Thecandidate spine exhibiting a maximum fit is selected as the best fitspine 48 for the cluster 45. Unique seed spines are next selected andplaced. Spine concept score vectors are generated for each best fitspine 48 and evaluated. Those best fit spines 48 having an adequatenumber of assigned clusters 45 and which are sufficiently dissimilar toany previously selected best fit spines 48 are designated and placed asseed spines and the corresponding spine concept 50 is identified. Anyremaining unplaced best fit spines 48 and clusters 45 that lack best fitspines 48 are placed into spine groups 49. Anchor clusters are selectedbased on similarities between unplaced candidate spines and candidateanchor clusters. Cluster spines are grown by placing the clusters 45 insimilarity precedence to previously placed spine clusters or anchorclusters along vectors originating at each anchor cluster. As necessary,clusters 45 are placed outward or in a new vector at a different anglefrom new anchor clusters 55. The spine groups 49 are placed bytranslating the spine groups 49 in a radial manner until there is nooverlap, such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/084,401, filed Feb. 25, 2002, pending, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated by reference.

Finally, the HUD generator 43 generates a user interface, which includesa HUD that logically overlays the spine groups 49 placed within thevisualization 54 and which provides controls for navigating, exploringand searching the cluster space, as further described below withreference to FIG. 4. The HUD is projected over a potentially complex ordense scene, such as the cluster groups 49 projected from the virtualthree-dimensional space, and provides labeling and focusing of selectclusters. The HUD includes a compass that provides a focused view of theplaced spine groups 49, concept labels that are arrangedcircumferentially and non-overlappingly around the compass, statisticsabout the spine groups 49 appearing within the compass, and a garbagecan in which to dispose of selected concepts. In one embodiment, thecompass is round, although other enclosed shapes and configurations arepossible. Labeling is provided by drawing a concept pointer from theoutermost cluster in select spine groups 49 as determined in thethree-dimensional virtual scene to the periphery of the compass at whichthe label appears. Preferably, each concept pointer is drawn with aminimum length and placed to avoid overlapping other concept pointers.Focus is provided through a set of zoom, pan and pin controls, asfurther described below with reference to FIGS. 6A-D.

In one embodiment, a single compass is provided. In a furtherembodiment, multiple and independent compasses can be provided, asfurther described below with reference to FIG. 7. A pre-determinednumber of best fit spines 48 are identified within the three-dimensionalvirtual scene and labels 52 are assigned based on the number of clustersfor each of the projected best fit spines 48 appearing within thecompass. A set of wedge-shaped slots 51 are created about thecircumference of the compass. The labels are placed into the slots 51 atthe end of concept pointers appearing at a minimum distance from theoutermost cluster 45 to the periphery of the compass to avoid overlap,as further described below with reference to FIG. 14. In addition,groupings 53 of clusters can be formed by selecting concepts ordocuments appearing in the compass using the user interface controls.

Each module or component is a computer program, procedure or modulewritten as source code in a conventional programming language, such asthe C++ programming language, and is presented for execution by the CPUas object or byte code, as is known in the art. The variousimplementations of the source code and object and byte codes can be heldon a computer-readable storage medium or embodied on a transmissionmedium in a carrier wave. The display generator 32 operates inaccordance with a sequence of process steps, as further described belowwith reference to FIG. 11.

Cluster Projection

FIG. 3 is a block diagram 60 showing, by way of example, the projectionof n-dimensional space 61 into three-dimensional space 62 andtwo-dimensional space 63 through the display generator 34 of FIG. 1.Individual documents 14 form an n-dimensional space 61 with eachdocument concept 46 representing a discrete dimension. From a user'spoint of view, the n-dimensional space 61 is too abstract and dense toconceptualize into groupings of related document concepts 46 as thenumber of interrelationships between distinct document concepts 46increases exponentially with the number of document concepts.Comprehension is quickly lost as concepts increase. Moreover, then-dimensional space 61 cannot be displayed if n exceeds threedimensions. As a result, the document concept interrelationships aremapped into a three-dimensional virtual “world” and then projected ontoa two-dimensional screen.

First, the n-dimensional space 61 is projected into a virtualthree-dimensional space 62 by logically group the document concepts 46into thematically-related clusters 45. In one embodiment, thethree-dimensional space 62 is conceptualized into a virtual world or“scene” that represents each cluster 45 as a virtual sphere 66 placedrelative to other thematically-related clusters 45, although othershapes are possible. Importantly, the three-dimensional space 62 is notdisplayed, but is used instead to generate a screen view. Thethree-dimensional space 62 is projected from a predefined perspectiveonto a two-dimensional space 63 by representing each cluster 45 as acircle 69, although other shapes are possible.

Although the three-dimensional space 62 could be displayed through aseries of two-dimensional projections that would simulate navigationthrough the three-dimensional space through yawing, pitching androlling, comprehension would quickly be lost as the orientation of theclusters 45 changed. Accordingly, the screens generated in thetwo-dimensional space 63 are limited to one single perspective at atime, such as would be seen by a viewer looking at the three-dimensionalspace 62 from a stationary vantage point, but the vantage point can bemoved. The viewer is able to navigate through the two-dimensional space63 through zooming and panning. Through the HUD, the user is allowed tozoom and pan through the clusters 45 appearing within compass 67 and pinselect document concepts 46 into place onto the compass 67. Duringpanning and zooming, the absolute three-dimensional coordinates 65 ofeach cluster 45 within the three-dimensional space 64 remain unchanged,while the relative two-dimensional coordinates 68 are updated as theview through the HUD is modified. Finally, spine labels are generatedfor the thematic concepts of cluster spines appearing within the compass67 based on the underlying scene in the three-dimensional space 64 andperspective of the viewer, as further described below with reference toFIG. 14.

User Interface Example

FIG. 4 is a screen display diagram 80 showing, by way of example, a userinterface 81 generated by the display generator 34 of FIG. 1. The userinterface 81 includes the controls and HUD. Cluster data is placedwithin the user interface 81. The controls and HUD enable a user tonavigate, explore and search the cluster data 83 appearing within acompass 82, as further described below with reference to FIG. 5. Thecluster data 84 appearing outside of the compass 82 is navigable untilthe compass is zoomed or panned over that cluster data 84. In a furtherembodiment, multiple and independent compasses 82 can be included indisjunctive, overlapping or concentric configurations. Other shapes andconfigurations of compasses are possible.

In one embodiment, the controls are provided by a combination of mousebutton and keyboard shortcut assignments, which control the orientation,zoom, pan, and selection of placed clusters 83 within the compass 82,and toolbar buttons 87 provided on the user interface 81. By way ofexample, the mouse buttons enable the user to zoom and pan around andpin down the placed clusters 83. For instance, by holding the middlemouse button and dragging the mouse, the placed clusters 83 appearingwithin the compass 82 can be panned. Similarly, by rolling a wheel onthe mouse, the placed clusters 83 appearing within the compass 82 can bezoomed inwards to or outwards from the location at which the mousecursor points. Finally, by pressing a Home toolbar button or keyboardshortcut, the placed clusters 83 appearing within the compass 82 can bereturned to an initial view centered on the display screen. Keyboardshortcuts can provide similar functionality as the mouse buttons.

Individual spine concepts 50 can be “pinned” in place on thecircumference of the compass 82 by clicking the left mouse button on acluster spine label 91. The spine label 91 appearing at the end of theconcept pointer connecting the outermost cluster of placed clusters 83associated with the pinned spine concept 50 are highlighted. Pinningfixes a spine label 91 to the compass 82, which causes the spine label91 to remain fixed to the same place on the compass 82 independent ofthe location of the associated placed clusters 83 and adds weight to theassociated cluster 83 during reclustering.

The toolbar buttons 87 enable a user to execute specific commands forthe composition of the spine groups 49 displayed. By way of example, thetoolbar buttons 87 provide the following functions:

-   -   (1) Select a previous document 14 in a cluster spiral;    -   (2) Select a next document 14 in a cluster spiral;    -   (3) Return to home view;    -   (4) Re-cluster documents 14;    -   (5) Select a document 14 and cluster the remaining documents 14        based on similarity in concepts to the document concepts 46 of        the selected document 14;    -   (6) Select one or more cluster concepts 47 and cluster the        documents 14 containing those selected concepts separately from        the remaining documents 14;    -   (7) Re-cluster all highlighted documents 14 separately from the        remaining documents 14;    -   (8) Quickly search for words or phrases that may not appear in        the concept list 94, which is specified through a text dialogue        box 89;    -   (9) Perform an advanced search based on, for instance, search        terms, natural language or Boolean searching, specified files or        file types, text only, including word variations, and metadata        fields;    -   (10) Clear all currently selected concepts and documents        highlighted;    -   (11) Display a document viewer;    -   (12) Disable the compass; and    -   (13) Provide help.        In addition, a set of pull down menus 88 provide further control        over the placement and manipulation of clusters within the user        interface 81. Other types of controls and functions are        possible.

Visually, the compass 82 emphasizes visible placed clusters 83 anddeemphasizes placed clusters 84 appearing outside of the compass 82. Theview of the cluster spines appearing within the focus area of thecompass 82 can be zoomed and panned and the compass 82 can also beresized and disabled. In one embodiment, the placed clusters 83appearing within the compass 82 are displayed at full brightness, whilethe placed clusters 84 appearing outside the compass 82 are displayed at30 percent of original brightness, although other levels of brightnessor visual accent, including various combinations of color, line widthand so forth, are possible. Spine labels 91 appear at the ends ofconcept pointers connecting the outermost cluster of select placedclusters 83 to preferably the closest point along the periphery of thecompass 82. In one embodiment, the spine labels 91 are placed withoutoverlap and circumferentially around the compass 82, as furtherdescribed below with reference to FIG. 14. The spine labels 91correspond to the cluster concepts 47 that most describe the spinegroups 49 appearing within the compass 82. Additionally, the clusterconcepts 47 for each of the spine labels 91 appear in a concepts list94.

In one embodiment, a set of set-aside trays 85 are provided tographically group those documents 86 that have been selected orlogically marked into sorting categories. In addition, a garbage can 90is provided to remove cluster concepts 47 from consideration in thecurrent set of placed spine groups 49. Removed cluster concepts 47prevent those concepts from affecting future clustering, as may occurwhen a user considers a concept irrelevant to the placed clusters 84.

User Interface

FIG. 5 is an exploded screen display diagram 100 showing the userinterface 81 of FIG. 4. The user interface 81 includes controls 101,concepts list 103 and HUD 104. Clusters 102 are presented to the userfor viewing and manipulation via the controls 101, concepts list 103 andHUD 104. The controls 101 enable a user to navigate, explore and searchthe cluster space through the mouse buttons, keyboard and toolbarbuttons 87. The concepts list 103 identifies a total number of conceptsand lists each concept and the number of occurrences. Concepts can beselected from the concepts list 103. Lastly, the HUD 104 creates avisual illusion that draws the users' attention to the compass 82without actually effecting the composition of the clusters 102.

User Interface Controls Examples

FIGS. 6A-D are data representation diagrams 120, 130, 140, 150 showing,by way of examples, display zooming, panning and pinning using the userinterface 81 of FIG. 4. Using the controls, a user can zoom and panwithin the HUD and can pin spine concepts 50, as denoted by the spinelabels for placed clusters 83. Zooming increases or decreases the amountof the detail of the placed clusters 83 within the HUD, while panningshifts the relative locations of the placed clusters 83 within the HUD.Other types of user controls are possible.

Referring first to FIG. 6A, a compass 121 frames a set of cluster spines124. The compass 121 logically separates the cluster spines 124 into a“focused” area 122, that is, those cluster spines 124 appearing insideof the compass 121, and an “unfocused” area 123, that is, the remainingcluster spines 124 appearing outside of the compass 121.

In one embodiment, the unfocused area 123 appears under a visual “velum”created by decreasing the brightness of the placed cluster spines 124outside the compass 121 by 30 percent, although other levels ofbrightness or visual accent, including various combinations of color,line width and so forth, are possible. The placed cluster spines 124inside of the focused area 122 are identified by spine labels 125, whichare placed into logical “slots” at the end of concept pointers 126 thatassociate each spine label 125 with the corresponding placed clusterspine 124. The spine labels 125 show the common concept 46 that connectsthe clusters 83 appearing in the associated placed cluster spine 124.Each concept pointer 126 connects the outermost cluster 45 of theassociated placed cluster spine 124 to the periphery of the compass 121centered in the logical slot for the spine label 125. Concept pointers126 are highlighted in the HUD when a concept 46 within the placedcluster spine 124 is selected or a pointer, such as a mouse cursor, isheld over the concept 46. Each cluster 83 also has a cluster label 128that appears when the pointer is used to select a particular cluster 83in the HUD. The cluster label 128 shows the top concepts 46 that broughtthe documents 14 together as the cluster 83, plus the total number ofdocuments 14 for that cluster 83.

In one embodiment, spine labels 125 are placed to minimize the length ofthe concept pointers 126. Each spine label 125 is optimally situated toavoid overlap with other spine labels 125 and crossing of other conceptpointers 126, as further described below with reference to FIG. 14. Inaddition, spine labels 125 are provided for only up to a predefinednumber of placed cluster spines 124 to prevent the compass 121 frombecoming too visually cluttered and to allow the user to retrieve extradata, if desired. The user also can change the number of spine labels125 shown in the compass 121.

Referring next to FIG. 6B, the placed cluster spines 124 as originallyframed by the compass 121 have been zoomed inwards. When zoomed inwards,the placed cluster spines 124 appearing within the compass 121 nearestto the pointer appear larger. In addition, those placed cluster spines124 originally appearing within the focused area 122 that are closer tothe inside edge of the compass 121 are shifted into the unfocused area123. Conversely, when zoomed outwards, the placed cluster spines 124appearing within the compass 121 nearest to the pointer appear smaller.Similarly, those placed cluster spines 124 originally appearing withinthe unfocused area 123 that are closer to the outside edge of thecompass 121 are shifted into the focused area 122.

In one embodiment, the compass 121 zooms towards or away from thelocation of the pointer, rather than the middle of the compass 121.Additionally, the speed at which the placed cluster spines 124 withinthe focused area 122 changes can be varied. For instance, variablezooming can move the compass 121 at a faster pace proportionate to thedistance to the placed cluster spines 124 being viewed. Thus, a close-upview of the placed cluster spines 124 zooms more slowly than a far awayview. Finally, the spine labels 125 become more specific with respect tothe placed cluster spines 124 appearing within the compass 121 as thezooming changes. High level details are displayed through the spinelabels 125 when the compass 121 is zoomed outwards and low level detailsare displayed through the spine labels 125 when the compass 121 iszoomed inwards. Other zooming controls and orientations are possible.

Referring next to FIG. 6C, the placed cluster spines 124 as originallyframed by the compass 121 have been zoomed back outwards and a spinelabel 125 has been pinned to fixed location on the compass 121.Ordinarily, during zooming and panning, the spine labels 125 associatedwith the placed cluster spines 124 that remain within the compass 121are redrawn to optimally situate each spine label 125 to avoid overlapwith other spine labels 125 and the crossing of other concept pointers126 independent of the zoom level and panning direction. However, one ormore spine labels 125 can be pinned by fixing the location 141 of thespine label 125 along the compass 121 using the pointer. Subsequently,each pinned spine label 125 remains fixed in-place, while the associatedplaced cluster spine 124 is reoriented within the compass 121 by thezooming or panning. When pinned, each cluster 142 corresponding to thepinned spine label 125 is highlighted. Finally, highlighted spine labels125 are dimmed during panning or zooming.

Referring lastly to FIG. 6D, the compass 121 has been panned down and tothe right. When panned, the placed cluster spines 124 appearing withinthe compass 121 shift in the direction of the panning motion. Thoseplaced cluster spines 124 originally appearing within the focused area122 that are closer to the edge of the compass 121 away from the panningmotion are shifted into the unfocused area 123 while those placedcluster spines 124 originally appearing within the unfocused area 123that are closer to the outside edge of the compass 121 towards thepanning motion are shifted into the focused area 122. In one embodiment,the compass 121 pans in the same direction as the pointer is moved.Other panning orientations are possible.

Example Multiple Compasses

FIG. 7 is a data representation diagram 160 showing, by way of example,multiple compasses 161, 162 generated using the user interface 81 ofFIG. 4. Each compass 161, 162 operates independently from any othercompass and multiple compasses can 161, 162 be placed in disjunctive,overlapping or concentric configurations to allow the user to emphasizedifferent aspects of the placed cluster spines 124 without panning orzooming. Spine labels for placed cluster spines are generated based onthe respective focus of each compass 161, 162. Thus, the placed clusterspines 166 appearing within the focused area of an inner compass 162situated concentric to an outer compass 161 result in one set of spinelabels, while those placed cluster spines 165 appearing within thefocused area of the outer compass 161 result in another set of spinelabels, which may be different that the inner compass spine labels set.In addition, each compass 161, 162 can be independently resized. Othercontrols, arrangements and orientations of compasses are possible.

Example Single and Multiple Compasses

FIGS. 8A-C are data representation diagrams 170, 180, 190 showing, byway of example, single 171 and multiple compasses 171, 181 generatedusing the user interface of FIG. 4. Multiple compasses can be used toshow concepts through spine labels concerning those cluster spinesappearing within their focus, whereas spine labels for those sameconcepts may not be otherwise generated. Referring first to FIG. 8A, anouter compass 171 frames four sets of cluster spines 174, 175, 176, 177.Spine labels for only three of the placed cluster spines 175, 176, 177in the “focused” area 173 are generated and placed along the outercircumference of the outer compass 171. Referring next to FIG. 8B, aninner compass 181 frames the set of cluster spines 174. Spine labels forthe placed cluster spines 174 in the “focused” area 182 are generatedand placed along the outer circumference of the inner compass 181, eventhough these spine same labels were not generated and placed along theouter circumference of the outer compass 171. Referring lastly to FIG.8C, in a further embodiment, spine labels for the placed cluster spinesin the “focused” area 172 are generated and placed along the outercircumference of the original outer compass 171. The additional spinelabels have no effect on the focus of the outer compass 171. Othercontrols, arrangements and orientations of compasses are possible.

Example Cluster Spine Group

FIG. 9 is a data representation diagram 210 showing, by way of example,a cluster spine group 49. One or more cluster spine groups 49 arepresented. In one embodiment, the cluster spine groups 49 are placed ina circular arrangement centered initially in the compass 82, as furtherdescribed below with reference to FIG. 10. A set of individual best fitspines 211, 213, 216, 219 are created by assigning clusters 45 sharing acommon best fit theme. The best fit spines are ordered based on spinelength and the longest best fit spine 121 is selected as an initialunique seed spine. Each of the unplaced remaining best fit spines 213,216, 219 are grafted onto the placed best fit spine 211 by firstbuilding a candidate anchor cluster list. If possible, each remainingbest fit spine 216, 219 is placed at an anchor cluster 218, 221 on thebest fit spine that is the most similar to the unplaced best fit spine.The best fit spines 211, 216, 219 are placed along a vector 212, 217,219 with a connecting line drawn in the visualization 54 to indicaterelatedness. Otherwise, each remaining best fit spine 213 is placed at aweak anchor 215 with a connecting line 214 drawn in the visualization 54to indicate relatedness. However, the connecting line 214 does notconnect to the weak anchor 215. Relatedness is indicated by proximityonly.

Next, each of the unplaced remaining singleton clusters 222 are looselygrafted onto a placed best fit spine 211, 216, 219 by first building acandidate anchor cluster list. Each of the remaining singleton clusters222 are placed proximal to an anchor cluster that is most similar to thesingleton cluster. The singleton clusters 222 are placed along a vector212, 217, 219, but no connecting line is drawn in the visualization 54.Relatedness is indicated by proximity only.

Cluster Spine Group Placement Example

FIG. 10 is a data representation diagram 230 showing, by way ofexamples, cluster spine group placements. A set of seed cluster spinegroups 232-235 are shown evenly-spaced circumferentially to an innermostcircle 231. No clusters 80 assigned to each seed cluster spine groupframe a sector within which the corresponding seed cluster spine groupis placed.

Cluster Spine Group Overlap Removal Example

FIG. 11 is a data representation diagram 240 showing, by way of example,cluster spine group overlap removal. An overlapping cluster spine groupis first rotated in an anticlockwise direction 243 up to a maximum angleand, if still overlapping, translated in an outwards direction 244.Rotation 245 and outward translation 246 are repeated until the overlapis resolved. The rotation can be in any direction and amount of outwardtranslation any distance.

Method Overview

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing a method 250 for providing a userinterface 81 for a dense three-dimensional scene, in accordance with theinvention. The method 250 is described as a sequence of processoperations or steps, which can be executed, for instance, by a displayedgenerator 34 (shown in FIG. 1).

As an initial step, documents 14 are scored and clusters 45 aregenerated (block 251), such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat.No. 7,610,313, issued Oct. 27, 2009, the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference. Next, clusters spines are placed as clustergroups 49 (block 252), such as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat.No. 7,191,175, issued Mar. 13, 2007, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,440,622, issuedOct. 21, 2008, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference,and the concepts list 103 is provided. The HUD 104 is provided (block253) to provide a focused view of the clusters 102, as further describedbelow with reference to FIG. 13. Finally, controls are provided throughthe user interface 81 for navigating, exploring and searching thecluster space (block 254). The method then terminates.

HUD Generation

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the routine 260 for providing a HUDfor use in the method 250 of FIG. 12. One purpose of this routine is togenerate the visual overlay, including the compass 82, that defines theHUD.

Initially, the compass 82 is generated to overlay the placed clusterslayer 102 (block 261). In a further embodiment, the compass 82 can bedisabled. Next, cluster concepts 47 are assigned into the slots 51(block 262), as further described below with reference to FIG. 14.Following cluster concept 47 assignment, the routine returns.

Concept Assignment to Slots

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the routine 270 for assigning concepts47 to slots 51 for use in the routine 260 of FIG. 13. One purpose ofthis routine is to choose the locations of the spine labels 91 based onthe placed clusters 83 appearing within the compass 82 and availableslots 51 to avoid overlap and crossed concept pointers.

Initially, a set of slots 51 is created (block 271). The slots 51 aredetermined circumferentially defined around the compass 82 to avoidcrossing of navigation concept pointers and overlap between individualspine labels 91 when projected into two dimensions. In one embodiment,the slots 51 are determined based on the three-dimensional Cartesiancoordinates 65 (shown in FIG. 3) of the outermost cluster in selectspine groups 49 and the perspective of the user in viewing thethree-dimensional space 62. As the size of the compass 82 changes, thenumber and position of the slots 51 change. If there are fewer slotsavailable to display the cluster concepts 47 selected by the user, onlythe number of cluster concepts 47 that will fit in the slots 51available will be displayed.

Next, a set of slice objects is created for each cluster concept 47 thatoccurs in a placed cluster 83 appearing within the compass 82 (block272). Each slice object defines an angular region of the compass 82 andholds the cluster concepts 47 that will appear within that region, thecenter slot 51 of that region, and the width of the slice object,specified in number of slots 51. In addition, in one embodiment, eachslice object is interactive and, when associated with a spine label 91,can be selected with a mouse cursor to cause each of the clusterconcepts 47 in the display to be selected and highlighted. Next, framingslice objects are identified by iteratively processing each of the sliceobjects (blocks 273-276), as follows. For each slice object, if theslice object defines a region that frames another slice object (block274), the slice objects are combined (block 275) by changing the centerslot 51, increasing the width of the slice object, and combining thecluster concepts 47 into a single slice object. Next, those sliceobjects having a width of more than half of the number of slots 51 aredivided by iteratively processing each of the slice objects (block277-280), as follows. For each slice object, if the width of the sliceobject exceeds the number of slots divided by two (block 278), the sliceobject is divided (block 279) to eliminate unwanted crossings of linesthat connect spine labels 91 to associated placed clusters 83. Lastly,the cluster concepts 47 are assigned to slots 51 by a set of nestedprocessing loops for each of the slice objects (blocks 281-287) andslots 51 (blocks 282-286), as follows. For each slot 51 appearing ineach slice object, the cluster concepts 47 are ordered by angularposition from the slot 51 (block 283), as further described below withreference to FIG. 13. The cluster concept 47 whose corresponding clusterspine has the closest angularity to the slot 51 is selected (block 284).The cluster concept 47 is removed from the slice object and placed intothe slot 51 (block 285), which will then be displayed within the HUDlayer 103 as a spine label 91. Upon the completion of cluster concept 47assignments, the routine returns.

Cluster Assignment Example

FIG. 15 is a data representation diagram 290 showing, by way of example,a cluster assignment to a slot 51 within a slice object. Each sliceobject 291 defines an angular region around the circumference of thecompass 82. Those slots 292 appearing within the slice object 291 areidentified. A spine label 293 is assigned to the slot 292 correspondingto the cluster spine having the closest angularity to the slot 292.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described asreferenced to the embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art willunderstand that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing a user-adjustable displayof clusters and text, comprising: a spine display module to provide atwo-dimensional display of cluster spines each comprising clusters ofdocuments proximately aligned; a compass module to provide a compasswithin the display and positioned over one or more clusters of at leastone cluster spine based on instructions from a user; a cluster spineplacement module to alter the display of the clusters positioned withinthe compass; a label display module to position spine labelscircumferentially around the compass, wherein each spine labelrepresents a concept associated with one of the cluster spinespositioned within the compass and the spine labels are non-overlappingaround the circumference of the compass; and a processor to execute themodules.
 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising: a conceptpointer to connect an outermost cluster of a cluster spine to a closestpoint along a periphery of the compass.
 3. A system according to claim2, further comprising: slots positioned at an end of each conceptpointer at the periphery of the compass.
 4. A system according to claim3, further comprising: a label assignment module to assign at least onespine label to one of the slots by generating a set of slice objects foreach concept, wherein each slice object defines an angular region of thecompass and is associated with one of the slots, and by positioning thespine label within the slot corresponding to one of the cluster spineshaving a closest angularity to the slot.
 5. A system according to claim2, wherein the concept pointer is highlighted when a concept within thecluster spine connected to that concept pointer is selected.
 6. A systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the display is altered by at least one ofincreasing detail of the clusters positioned within the compass byzooming in on the clusters, decreasing detail of the clusters positionedwithin the compass by zooming away from the clusters, and shiftinglocations of the clusters within the compass by panning the compass. 7.A system according to claim 1, wherein the clusters appearing outsidethe compass are deemphasized.
 8. A system according to claim 7, whereinthe deemphasis comprises at least one of reducing a brightness of theclusters outside the compass, reducing a line width of the outsideclusters, and assigning a particular color to the outside clusters.
 9. Asystem according to claim 1, further comprising: a set of set-asidetrays to graphically group those documents that have been selected intosorting categories.
 10. A system according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a concept list comprising the spine labels.
 11. A systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising: at least one other compassprovided in the display, wherein the compass and the other compasses arepositioned in at least one of disjunctive, overlapping, and concentricconfigurations.
 12. A method for providing a user-adjustable display ofclusters and text, comprising: providing a two-dimensional display ofcluster spines each comprising clusters of documents proximatelyaligned; providing a compass within the display and positioning thecompass over one or more clusters of at least one cluster spine based oninstructions from a user; altering the display of the clusterspositioned within the compass; and displaying spine labels positionedcircumferentially around the compass, wherein each spine labelrepresents a concept associated with one of the cluster spinespositioned within the compass and the spine labels are non-overlappingaround the circumference of the compass.
 13. A method according to claim12, further comprising: connecting an outermost cluster of a clusterspine to a closest point along a periphery of the compass via a conceptpointer.
 14. A method according to claim 13, further comprising:generating slots at an end of each concept pointer at the periphery ofthe compass.
 15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:assigning at least one spine label to one of the slots, comprising:generating a set of slice objects for each concept, wherein each sliceobject defines an angular region of the compass and is associated withone of the slots; and positioning the spine label within the slotcorresponding to one of the cluster spines having a closest angularityto the slot.
 16. A method according to claim 13, further comprising:highlighting the concept pointer when a concept within the cluster spineconnected to that concept pointer is selected.
 17. A method according toclaim 12, wherein the display is altered comprising at least one of:increasing detail of the clusters positioned within the compass byzooming in on the clusters; decreasing detail of the clusters positionedwithin the compass by zooming away from the clusters; shifting locationsof the clusters within the compass by panning the compass.
 18. A methodaccording to claim 12, further comprising: deemphasizing the clustersappearing outside the compass.
 19. A method according to claim 18,wherein the deemphasis comprises at least one of reducing a brightnessof the clusters outside the compass, reducing a line width of theoutside clusters, and assigning a particular color to the outsideclusters.
 20. A method according to claim 12, further comprising:graphically grouping those documents that have been selected intosorting categories via a set of set-aside trays.
 21. A method accordingto claim 12, further comprising: generating a concept list comprisingthe spine labels.
 22. A method according to claim 12, furthercomprising: providing at least one other compass within the display,wherein the compass and the other compasses are positioned in at leastone of disjunctive, overlapping, and concentric configurations.